Small children can be protected against electric shock and injury by inserting safety caps in electrical outlets so that metal objects cannot be easily inserted into the receptacle slots.
The prior art includes several safety plug devices consisting of caps having electrically non-conducting prongs which can be inserted into the outlet holes as shown in FIG. 1. As children grow older, they often discover how to remove these plugs from the socket simply by observing others remove the plugs or by playing with the caps in such a way that they eventually learn how to pry them from the socket. A need therefore exists for means to help prevent the plug from being unintentionally removed from the socket.
There are devices in the prior art for retaining a safety cap near an outlet when not in use. U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,148 issued to Buckshaw, for example, discloses safety plugs attached to a tether. The tether is attachable to the face plate of the outlet to retain the plugs near the outlet when the plugs are not in use. The Buckshaw device and other similar tether devices do not disclose means for retaining the prongs of the plugs in the outlet during use, however.
There are likewise numerous devices attachable to a plug connected to an electrical appliance to prevent the plug from being pushed into an electrical socket, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,554, for example. Such devices are useful to prevent a particular device from being operated but do not address the problem of other electrically conductive objects, such as metal keys, being pushed into an electrical outlet by a child.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.